General Indices

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks closed higher on Tuesday on the expectation the midterm election and a Federal Reserve decision would create a more business-friendly environment, though many traders forecast a selloff in the days ahead. The S&P 500 index has risen almost 14 percent since September on speculation of Republican congressional gains and new measures by the Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy. "The market is expecting Republicans to at least take one House, and that's a big reason why we traded up over the past few months," said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis. "There's a high probability that we'll see a modest pullback afterward as the euphoria fades." Most polls show Republicans regaining control of the House of Representatives, while President Barack Obama's Democrats could be left with a narrow majority in the Senate. A divided Congress is typically seen as bullish for stocks as it makes passing new laws harder and lessens uncertainty...

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks could see big swings to the downside next week on any remotely "bad" news since volatility indexes are at levels considered too low. Investors also will face a blizzard of earnings, which many analysts believe will continue to support the rally that began early this month. But any disappointments in either earnings or outlooks could, of course, trigger a sharp sell-off. What's more, the market is likely to continue to garner support from investors' hopes that the Federal Reserve will take more steps to stimulate the economy, in what's known as "quantitative easing" or "QE2." The Fed is expected to unveil its initial commitment under QE2 at its November 2-3 meeting. The Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index, or VIX <.VIX>, a gauge widely used to measure investors' anxiety levels, fell 2.54 percent on Friday to close at 18.78, its lowest level since April. The VIX, which rose to near 50 in May,...

The world's leading economy saw its shares opening in green ahead of the Fed's Beige Book; a survey on Current Economic Conditions, although worries remain spread regarding the present stagnated recovery of the country having the Bank of America Corp was the most active U.S. stock while other actively traded shares include Citigroup Inc; Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc; Alkermes Inc; and Wells Fargo & Co. The U.S. Dollar index, which measures the green Benjamin's performance versus six major currencies, declined to currently trade at 81.20 recording a high of 78.35 and a low 77.37, while gold is inclining faintly on the daily base to trade around $1335.76 an ounce and the black gold for instance plunged slightly to trade around $80.61 a barrel. The best performing sectors within the Dow were the Basic Materials next to Telecommunications and Consumer Services shares, The S&P 500's best performing sectors were the Basic Materials, Telecommunications and Utilities shares, the NASDAQ Composite index best performing sectors were...

Major anticipation for the Federal Reserve quantitative easing measures forced the single currency to decline against majors in today’s trading as indicated by the US dollar index that tracks the performance of the dollar against a basket of currencies. The US dollar index dropped on the daily scale to 77.72, compared with the opening levels of 78.07, where it managed to reach the highest at 78.36 and the lowest at 77.59. The Fed will release its Beige Book later on today, which may show the extent of easing conditions and the course of recovery that floundered over the past period. Policy makers in Britain and the constant debates among them over the past few months drove the pound lower against most majors except the dollar. The pound fell as investors await the BOE’s next move on whether to provide markets with further stimuli or simply preserving the current monetary stand the bank is on. The pound-dollar pair rose to trade at 1.5745, compared with the...